Winter Break
by Atana
Summary: Severus Snape and his best friend are the only two Slytherins left at Hogwarts during Winter Break. A Snips and Spirals story.


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Snips and Spirals Fanfic: 

"Winter Break" 

Text by Lady Tesser 

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DISCLAIMER: (Spirals: I suppose she's going to blame us for this one, too.) (Snips: Be lucky, there's no inflatable sheep in this one.)  
  
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Professor Minerva McGonagall looked over her list of students staying over the winter holidays at Hogwarts: twenty Gryffindors (all of them studying for their NEWTS), twelve Ravenclaws (same), sixteen Hufflepuffs (the same, although most were suffering from the stomach flu), and two Slytherins.  
  
She checked the names of the Slytherins - Britomartis Vox and Severus Snape. She checked another list, and pretty much gathered what was going on.  
  
Britomartis' brother Kyros (Ravenclaw) was studying for his NEWTS and promised to look after Britomartis, who did not care to come home ... or, as she explained it, 'My parents wouldn't notice me gone, so I'm staying here.' (This set off a red flag warning, but she had no business sticking her nose into Slytherin affairs.) As a result, Severus was not going to his cousins' home this year (she had an idea something was up with young Snape and his father, but was unsure - perhaps she better talk with Dumbledore) and instead was going to stay with his best friend to keep her company.  
  
McGonagall was not blind; she knew what the two friends meant to each other. However, why it always resulted in her own students getting involved, it was beyond her. No, she was not blind of the rivalry between the boys known as the Marauders and these two Slytherins, but why they all carried it so far ...  
  
Hell and damnation. It still made her shake. Her best pupils - Sirius Black and James Potter - along with that dull boy Peter Pettigrew and sickly Remus Lupin, had shown bad sportsmanship after the Prank Day and attacked Miss Vox, leaving her to freeze to death. The Headmaster's punishment seemed too lenient to her - she would have expelled them on the spot - but perhaps the tour of Azkaban would cool their heels. She had hopes for Mr. Potter and Mr. Lupin, but was not sure of Mr. Pettigrew (an entirely thick boy, all told) and Mr. Black (who had the stubbornness to rival the walls of Hogwarts).  
  
She hoped the duo known as Snips and Spirals would be quiet for the rest of the school year with the four in suspension and taking lessons with retired Professor Niki Machiavelli in his home in Hogsmeade.  
  
(McGonagall shuddered. She had heard stories about Professor Machiavelli when she was a student. Mean, vulgar, cruel, unmerciful, evil, and he ate students. At least that's what she had heard. The things she had heard about him when she became a Hogwarts Professor herself did not change her mind.)  
  
If Azkaban does not scare them, then Professor Machiavelli will.  
  
She made a few notes on her list, then started to make preparations for the holidays.  
  
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Martis was braiding her knee-length ash blonde hair in the common room as Slytherin students rushed out, ready to leave the school for break.  
  
"Sure you'll be all right?" Oriana Crescent, one of her roommates, asked.  
  
"Fine, fine," Martis answered.  
  
"I mean, you'll be with Snape the whole time ... " Her dark brows knotted. "I mean, more than usual."  
  
Martis rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. "Lady of Slytherin - be assured that I will not be molested. Snips is more of a gentlemen than these goits around here; including Lucy Malfoy."  
  
Oriana blinked. "It's 'Luscious' Malfoy."  
  
"Lucy."  
  
The Fourth-Year male in question walked by, his long perfect blonde hair sweeping over his shoulders. Martis casually whipped her wand out and whispered "Cosmotolia."  
  
Lucius' walk across the common room involved his hair sticking straight up, wrapped around a bunch of perm rods, settled on his head, then the perm rods shot off, leaving his hair in tons of spiral curls, then pink bows appeared all over his head - all unnoticed by him.  
  
Several students giggled quietly, not wanting him to notice what Spirals had done to him.  
  
He left the room without incident.  
  
"There," Martis commented. "Hopefully he'll be on the train before he realizes what happened."  
  
Oriana gasped, gripping her hair in both hands. "I can't believe you stuck it to the cutest, most gorgeous guy in Slytherin!"  
  
"He think's he's hot dung on a silver platter, but he's nothing but cold diarrhea on a paper plate."  
  
"Huh?" Oriana asked.  
  
"Nothing. Better get going. Snips and I are going to paint this place with bright colors so it's not so depressing."  
  
"Well, have fun then." She waved and dashed off before Martis could do anything to her hair.  
  
Martis raspberried her back and waited for the rest of the students to leave. After five more minutes, she was completely alone in the common room.  
  
"Alone at last!" she cried, pulling her robe off to reveal her spiral- printed shirt and denim trousers. She jumped up on the couch and began bouncing up and down as she sang:  
  
"Oh, Lucy is king of the smegheads - Lucy is as gay as can be - We should tie up poor Lucy - and throw him into the sea!"  
  
Another voice joined her, coming from the boys' dorm staircase:  
  
"Oh, Lucy is full of arrogance - Lucy is so full of himself - Poor Lucy should be cooked up completely - and fed to a house-elf!"  
  
Sev appeared from the doorway, going up to her as she bounced on the couch. Martis giggled and pulled him up, both of them bouncing on it like a trampoline.  
  
"You're a lousy singer, Snips," she told him.  
  
He stuck his tongue out at her. "You're not quite an opera diva, either."  
  
She poked him in the forehead as she flew up and he landed. "Bother!"  
  
He poked her shoulder on his ascent back up. "Bother!"  
  
She poked his belly. "Bother!"  
  
He poked her collarbone. "Bother!"  
  
She broke into giggles, grabbing his hands and continuing to bounce. "I win!"  
  
"No, I win! I said it last!" He pulled his hands away and grappled her in a hug, both of them still bouncing on the couch and laughing.  
  
A camera flash, and both looked up to see their House Mother Rowena Price grinning, holding a large camera. "How adorable!" she cooed. "But please stop bouncing on the couch, dears."  
  
"Sorry, Miss Price," they chorused, landing on the couch together and sitting up.  
  
She carefully settled into the armchair in front of them, making sure neither child heard her bones creak or joints pop. "Now, it's good you're both together, because we need to discuss some things. As you may know, you are the only two Slytherins staying over winter holidays."  
  
Both cheered.  
  
Miss Price pushed her large, round glasses up. "That does not mean total anarchy."  
  
"What about partial anarchy?" Sev asked.  
  
"Reduced-calorie anarchy with tofu?" Martis added.  
  
Miss Price snickered. "Anyway, Professor Penderdandis and I will still be here as will the rest of the Hogwarts staff."  
  
"Darn," Martis complained. "Filch never takes vacations, does he?"  
  
"Mr. Filch and Mrs. Norris always stay at the school, even during summer break," Miss Price informed them. "And he's especially wary of students staying over breaks, so you two must behave yourselves while you're still here. No pranking."  
  
"We won't prank anyway because the Marauders aren't here," Martis admitted. "So we'll be as quiet as mice and plot for next semester."  
  
Sev added, "Even we can't keep up our red hot pace all the time. We have to take a breather now and again."  
  
"Yes," Miss Price said seriously. "About that. Don't be getting any foolish ideas."  
  
"Which type?" Martis asked. "I'm not prone to them, but Snips is."  
  
"I am not," he objected. "You came up with the can of Cheez-Whiz - I don't have contact with the Muggle World."  
  
Miss Price cleared her throat; the strange friendship of these two really made her wonder for her sanity at times. "By 'foolish ideas', I mean anything requiring the protection spells to be set off."  
  
Both quieted. Sev blushed while Martis pushed her sunglasses up and snorted. "Oh, please, ma'am. I thought the adults would have less dirty minds."  
  
"I have to make the speech, Miss Vox, it's tradition. During the two weeks you're here, the only things required of you is to not cause trouble and to please join everyone during meals. There will be a Christmas Feast which everyone is required to attend for form's sake - "  
  
Martis raised her hand, but Sev pulled it down as he said, "No blowing up the Christmas Cakes, Spirals."  
  
"No," she pouted. "I was going to mention that tomorrow is your birthday."  
  
Miss Price nodded. "I am aware tomorrow being Mr. Snape's birthday."  
  
"It's no big deal," he murmured as his hair fell into his face. "If anyone does anything about it, I will do something horrible to them."  
  
Martis wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "All right, so it won't be noted." She winked at their House Mother. "Anything else?"  
  
"Mm. Yes. Considering circumstances, Professor Flitwick has invited you to stay in Ravenclaw House because your brother is there."  
  
"No, I'll be fine." Martis smiled sweetly. "Kyros needs to study for his NEWTS and I'd only be in the way. And Severus needs company."  
  
He looked up at her. "Martis, if you want to be - "  
  
She tapped his nose. "Forget it, Snips, you're stuck with me."  
  
He smiled. "I can live with that."  
  
"Then that is all quite settled, then," Miss Price concluded.  
  
"Oh, one more thing," Martis said. "I request permission for Snips and me to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow."  
  
She raised an eyebrow, then nodded. "Permission granted. If you like, we can have Mr. Hagrid escort you to town."  
  
"That'll be fine," Martis answered. "Don't want to be assaulted by a wild sleigh pulled by eight reindeer again." She leapt up and pulled Sev with her, both of them running out of the common room and to the main floor of the dorm building.  
  
"What do you have in mind, Martis?" Sev asked severely as they dashed down the corridors.  
  
"My sister Nerissa sent me some money for an early Christmas present and I need to get it converted to local currency," she explained. "Then I can do some shopping."  
  
Sev slowed down, making her drag him along before she slowed as well. "I don't have any money, Spirals."  
  
"My treat, Snips. Since Hagrid's coming, I also need to thank him for saving me from freezing." She yanked him along. "Come on, it's almost lunch time and I want to see the trees in the Great Hall."  
  
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The next morning Martis and Sev were bundled up in cloaks and blankets as Hagrid drove the sleigh across the frozen lake, snow falling all around them.  
  
"It really is beautiful," Martis commented from inside her nest. "But it's freaking COLD!"  
  
Hagrid laughed, snow that had gathered on his beard fell over his moleskin coat. "Ay, Martis, yeh've been livin' near the ocean too long. Have ter have thin blood ter survive up here. This isn't nearly as cold as it is in the Orkneys."  
  
"I understand one version of Hell is nothing but cold and ice," Sev stated.  
  
Hagrid laughed again. "Ter me, Hell is bein' without mulled mead and my treacle fudge."  
  
The students giggled as the sleigh bumped up to land and onto the main road. "Well," Hagrid said. "Here's where yeh two can walk the rest of the way. Not much of a stretch. I'll meet yeh at The Three Broomsticks at noon."  
  
"Good," Martis agreed. "Cause I'm treating you to lunch."  
  
"Sure yeh can afford it, Martis?" he snickered.  
  
"I made sure. I haven't thanked you properly for what you've done. So, we'll meet you for lunch."  
  
"Fine, fine," Hagrid agreed, his smile visible through his thick dark beard. He leaned close to Sev as the children got out. "If I hear yeh've been ter Madame Puddifoot's, I'll skin yeh alive."  
  
Sev looked confused. "Who?"  
  
Hagrid pulled back. "Good boy." He snapped the whip and the horses dragged the sleigh away, leaving the two Slytherins wrapped in their cloaks and shivering.  
  
"Come on," Martis said, her gloved hand reaching out and grasping the front of his cloak. "Let's start."  
  
"But what did he mean - ?"  
  
Martis rolled her eyes. "Madame Puddifoot runs the tea house down the street that my siblings like to take their 'significant others' to for a romantic ... date. Phaedra says the place looks like a French hair salon with all the frills and gaudy stuff." She made a face. "Hagrid probably thinks we have the same ideas." A brief vision passed before her eyes of her and Sev entering Madame Puddifoots, and all the Hogwarts students (who all seemed rather short and young for some reason) screaming and running out of the building.  
  
Sev had a lot more questions, but the way Martis jerked his arm down the street made him decide not to ask.  
  
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It turned out the monetary 'gift' from Nerissa Vox was nearly a hundred galleons.  
  
"Here," she said as she handed some over to him from her velvet purse with the spirals and scissors printed on it. "Shopping will go a little quicker if you go by Honeydukes and buy our usual stash."  
  
Sev accepted the money and looked at her. "Where will you be?"  
  
"I need to do something top secret." She grinned, her sunglasses hiding her eyes. "Just give me a half hour, all right?"  
  
He nodded. "Sure. So the usual - Cornish Pixie Stix, Divinity, Chocoballs, Chocolate Frogs, Fizzing Whizbees, Gummi Skrewts, Sugar Quills, and a sample of every type of chocolate block in the store."  
  
She chortled. "Miss Price is going to plotz! Oh, don't forget some lemon drops for the Headmaster - our Christmas present to him." She kissed his cheek and ran off. "See you later, Snips!"  
  
Severus made his way through the snow toward the sweet shop.  
  
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Both met up again in front of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop, Sev with a large bag of candy and Martis hauling several packages under her arms.  
  
"What did you do?" he asked. "Buy out the whole of Hogsmeade?"  
  
"Feels like it. My secret mission is over - and if you look in these, I'll string you up in the rafters of the common room."  
  
"Now I have to see them," Sev stated as they entered the quill shop.  
  
"Patience is a virtue."  
  
"Not in my family dictionary." He pulled her hood back and shook the snow from it. "What are we getting here?"  
  
"I'm getting quills for my siblings still in school - and I'm getting one for Nerissa. She loves Fwooper quills."  
  
"They are rather pretty. And bright."  
  
"Alarmingly so."  
  
She began to pick around the quills on display as Sev looked over the more subdued goose-quills. He was about due in for a new quill, too ...  
  
Martis lost control of the packages and fell to the floor on top of them, amid much cursing in Minoan. He turned to see her sprawled on the floor, and giggled.  
  
"The great Backbeat Spirals, the well-balanced future Beater of Slytherin, can't keep her balance on the ground."  
  
"Oh, shush, you," she returned, making a face. "I don't see you helping me up."  
  
"Please, let me," a boy's voice said.  
  
The friends looked up and saw James Potter offering his hand.  
  
Martis recoiled on the floor and Sev was immediately next to her, his wand drawn and pointing in Potter's face. "Keep your filthy hands off her, you bastard."  
  
James raised his hands in the air, his brows knotted. "Snape, I'm really, really sorry for what happened. I really do apologize for what I did to you, Vox."  
  
Martis pulled herself up, hiding slightly behind Sev; Sev still had his wand pointing at the Marauder. Martis pushed her sunglasses up. "Potter, what are you doing out here?"  
  
"Professor Machiavelli sent me out to get some fresh quills for us; I'm not supposed to be talking to anyone." He lowered his eyes to the floor. "Please, Vox, I'm really sorry for what I did. The whole thing was Black's idea and it seemed harmless at the time - "  
  
"She almost died of hypothermia, you idiot!" Sev snapped. "If you used the two brain cells you had, you would have figured out the reason she didn't kick your butt was because she had the stomach flu!"  
  
"Snips," Martis said, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Enough. I think he really is sorry."  
  
"Yes, and he should apologize, too."  
  
Potter looked up at the two, at Snape's pure hatred and Vox's cautiousness. "I don't blame you for hating me for it. I now know what I did is wrong." His eyes shifted to Martis. "Vox, I mean it. I am dreadfully sorry. Our show of bad sportsmanship was horrible."  
  
She moved from behind Sev and stood within inches of Potter, her face looking up into his, her sunglasses reflecting his image back to him. "I'll see you on the Quidditch tryout field next school year," she stated. "Any funny business, and you know where my bat will slam on your anatomy."  
  
He nodded. "Understood."  
  
She offered her hand and he hesitantly shook. "Now get going, Potter."  
  
He gathered up his purchases, paid the clerk, and rushed out.  
  
Sev put his wand away and helped Martis pick up her packages. "I don't trust that worm."  
  
"Neither do I, but I think he has a conscience somewhere in there. If Sneerius wasn't around, I bet Potter would be an all right bloke."  
  
"I doubt it." Both divided up the packages between them and tied them up for better handling, while Martis finished her quill shopping. Nerissa got a lime-green Fwooper quill and the twins, Phaedra, and Kyros got gold ostrich quills.  
  
"Here," Martis said as they left the shop.  
  
Sev opened the box and looked at the almost opalescent swan quill inside. "What?"  
  
"Happy Birthday, Snips."  
  
He looked up at her, his black eyes large and round. "But - you - I never get anything - "  
  
"Well, you do now." She pulled her sunglasses off and her grin had spread to her green eyes. "You're fourteen-years-old ... now you're a gentleman."  
  
He stared at her. Not a 'lord' or a 'master' but a 'gentleman'. A gentleman! Who would have thought of greasy, miserable, rotten Severus Snape as a 'gentleman'?  
  
She snickered. "You're grinning like an idiot, Snips."  
  
"I can't help it," he replied. "You gave me a birthday present and called me a 'gentleman'. I'm in shock."  
  
"Probably from the cold." She stood on tip-toe and kissed his cheek. "Come on, let's go meet Hagrid."  
  
Martis turned away and trotted across the snow to The Three Broomsticks. Sev followed her, suddenly wondering when it became customary for her to kiss his cheek. The fact she did not vomit on him afterward puzzled him even more.  
  
Oh, well. As long as she did not mind ...  
  
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Hagrid was in a 'state' as the two student entered the inn.  
  
"Oh, you must be the two children," the lady of the inn said. "Yes, I'm afraid Mr. Hagrid is in a 'state' indeed. He stopped off at the Hog's Head, I bet."  
  
"The what?" Martis repeated as she and Sev were relieve of packages at the door.  
  
"Hog's Head, the dirty pub down aways." She patted their heads. "You two are frozen! Lemme dish you up some soup and get you some bread and warm butterbeer."  
  
"Thank-you, ma'am," Martis answered. She and Sev approached the table Hagrid had claimed.  
  
Well, he had certainly claimed it, as resting on it was a washtub of snowy- water and his large head was soaking in it. He suddenly lifted his head up, splashing water at the duo. "Oh, sorry 'bout this, Martis and Severus. If yeh don't mind ... just keep this between us."  
  
Martis giggled, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "Hagrid, how could you! Getting tanked while chaperoning two innocent and helpless students!"  
  
Sev slipped into a chair, trying not to giggle at the words 'innocent' and 'helpless'. He was amazed at her ability to scold drunk half-giants.  
  
Hagrid chuckled. "I was weak. I won a game of darts and everyone treated me - "  
  
"Must have been half of Hogsmeade, considering." She claimed a chair near him and began combing his wet hair up out of his face. "You need to sober up before we get back to the school. Do they serve coffee at all here?"  
  
Madame Rosmerta returned to the table with tankards of hot butterbeer, bowls of soup, and a plate of bread for the students. "Think he'll survive?"  
  
"Just barely. Do you have coffee?"  
  
She nodded. "I'll brew up a cauldron. Usual, Hagrid?"  
  
He blew water out of his nose. "Yeah, beef casserole, mulled mead, lots of bread and butter."  
  
"No mead," Martis overruled. "Coffee."  
  
He patted her head with his large hand. "I've been lookin' after meself for decades, dear."  
  
"Yes, and it shows. You should be taken away from yourself for neglect."  
  
"Spirals!" Sev cried. "Are you trying to provoke him?"  
  
Hagrid turned to the boy and roared in laughter, making him hold his head afterward. "Och, shouldn't have done that. Don't worry, Mr. Snape, I deserve it. Thanks." He accepted his lunch and coffee from Madame Rosmerta and she swatted the back of his head.  
  
"Just a reminder," she said. "Don't get into these 'states' with students around." She smiled sweetly at Sev. "Anything else, dears?"  
  
Martis grinned, swallowing her soup. "Today is Snips' birthday. Any suggestions of something to celebrate with?"  
  
The Madame folded her arms and gazed at the boy. "I'll whip up a batch of buns, they'll be ready by the time you finish lunch."  
  
"Good," Martis said. She devoured her soup as Sev slowly ate his and Hagrid stared.  
  
"It's yer birthday this day?"  
  
"Please, don't make a fuss. Spirals already is."  
  
"Why not?" she asked. "Not many people I know are born on Winter Solstice."  
  
Hagrid nodded. "Tis true. Tonight's the longest night of the year. Where my mum came from, she said they used to have huge bonfires ter celebrate the rebirth of the sun." He paused, thinking about it. "She called it Midwinter, but it's the beginning of winter, actually. Somethin' about it being near the close of winter and spring was around the corner. Imbolc was at the beginning of February, when the sheep came into milk, but it happens slightly later than that."  
  
Martis made an unladylike sound. "The calendars can never keep up with the Earth, no matter how many Leap Years are tacked on. Pretty soon, it'll be snowing in the middle of summer. May as well move to Australia to balance things out."  
  
Sev finished his soup, glad the conversation turned to other things besides him.  
  
The sticky buns were actually quite delicious.  
  
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Rowena Price, Slytherin House Mother, was enjoying a hot bath that evening when she distinctly heard a girl's squeal:  
  
"Snips! Get out of there!"  
  
"I just want to see what you're making a fuss about, Spirals!" a boy's voice retorted.  
  
"It's none of your business what I keep under there, Severus Snape!"  
  
"Oh, really? And how am I supposed to ignore something like that?"  
  
"Well, you'll just have to wait. I don't do this for just anybody."  
  
"Of course not. But I do expect to find out - Hey, leggo of that!"  
  
"Nuh-uh! I got you now!"  
  
"Britomartis Vox, you play mean!"  
  
"Yes, now gimme another lick of that."  
  
Miss Price wondered why the AHP System had not kicked in. For a woman with bad arthritis, she managed to quickly pulled herself out of the tub, struggle into a robe, and race out of her rooms and into the Slytherin common room, her wand ready for about anything.  
  
Except what she actually saw.  
  
Martis and Sev were floating in the middle of the room, sharing a Fizzing Whizbee, and completely clothed. She had him in a headlock while he was trying to keep the candy out of her reach. Below them, a blanket covered something on the floor.  
  
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" the House Mother demanded.  
  
Both looked up (or down) to see Miss Price dripping wet in a robe and with an expression of annoyed puzzlement on her face.  
  
"Sorry, ma'am," Martis apologized. "We didn't mean to be so loud. It's just that Snips only got ONE Fizzing Whizbee and he's not sharing."  
  
"I shared it," he protested. "You're floating, aren't you?"  
  
At these words, she promptly fell down onto the couch.  
  
He laughed at her, pointing and sticking his tongue out, then he fell from mid-air as well, landing on top of her. He pulled away as she laughed, then he broke into guffaws and they laughed at each other.  
  
The House Mother blushed for the first time in thirty years, then went back to her bath. This was Severus Snape and Britomartis Vox, not Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Black (whom she had to hex apart nearly every five minutes). She should not have to worry about these two.  
  
That would be in a few years, she was certain, but not now.  
  
Miss Price slipped back into her tub and closed her eyes, ignoring the next squeal of, "SNIPS! Where do you get these weird ideas of what to do with Cornish Pixie Stix??"  
  
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Near midnight, Martis was not feeling too hot.  
  
"Urg," she groaned. "Too much sugar." She picked up Medusa and draped the sleeping snake around her neck. She pulled on her spiral-printed cloak and lit the lantern in her room, picking it up and taking it down the stairs with her.  
  
She paused on the main floor of the dorms, then decided she had to visit the kitchens. Making her way down the halls, she saw Nearly Headless Nick talking quietly with the Gray Lady as they floated down the hall, both acting for all the world like they were on a moonlit stroll.  
  
Martis smiled. She thought it was sweet. She held her stomach and turned to one of the portraits on the wall. "Know how to get to the kitchens?"  
  
The little old witch in the painting shook her head. "Tummy ache, lass? You know not to indulge in the sweets."  
  
"I'm paying for it now. Please?"  
  
"Door to the right of the main staircase, down the corridor, behind the painting of a bowl of fruit - make sure to tickle the pear to find the handle."  
  
"Thanks," she moaned, continuing on her way.  
  
She followed the directions from the painting and indeed found a painting of a bowl of fruit. Tickling the pear resulted in it giggling, and she grasped the green handle that protruded from it.  
  
Opening the door, she came into the silent, dark kitchens; as large as the Great Hall above it and with an amazingly high ceiling. Candles stood along the preparation tables, glittering off the pots lining the wall, as if expecting a student in the middle of the night.  
  
The ice box at the far end of the room was ajar, and Martis placed her lantern on one of the tables before she picked up a glass and made her way to the ice box. Peering in, she saw a woman with wild brown and black hair helping herself to the milk.  
  
"Excuse me?" Martis asked.  
  
The woman turned, her amber eyes glowing green from the light behind Martis. The woman quickly transfigured into a Maine Coon.  
  
"Mrs. Norris?!" she exclaimed, dropping her glass. The glass shattered on the floor, startling the cat who quickly changed back into an adult human.  
  
"Owe, you poor thing! Jus' as startled as I am!" She knelt down and began picking up bits of glass, placing them in the cupped skirt of her simple brown dress. "Britomartis Vox, right? Argus has been wanting to catch you and Severus Snape for ages now, bless him."  
  
"You're - you're an Animagus?"  
  
"No, I'm a Fwooper with feather-rot. Of course I am, love!" she giggled, blushing. She brushed a wild strand of hair back over her ear. "No one's supposed to know; keeps the children in line, eh?"  
  
Martis' mind kept trying to restart. "I thought Filch just liked cats ... "  
  
The woman smirked. "Argus is my darling. Been quite a comfort for me since my husband died." She swept the rest of the glass into the dress and walked past the girl to dispose of it. She turned around and wiped her hands. "You don't look too well. Milk?"  
  
"Please," Martis asked.  
  
Mrs. Norris picked up another glass and went into the ice box to fill it up for the girl, handing it to her. "There you are, dear."  
  
"Is Mr. Filch around?" Martis asked before she took a drink.  
  
"Oh, no. He's asleep. I just decided to nip on down here for a midnight snack. Good thing we ran into each other, eh?" She pulled up a stool to a table and settled on it. "Come on, sit with me, I don't bite."  
  
"I'm more afraid of you telling on me." Martis sat on a stool across from her.  
  
"Owe, don't worry about that, dearie. If I told him, that means he'd have to know I was in human form around a student." She stretched her arms across the table in a cat-like manner. "So, how is winter break for you so far?"  
  
"Nice, although I'm now learning not to eat too much sweets."  
  
"Aye, that always gets ya." She got up and disappeared into the ice box, bringing out a block of cheese and the jar of milk. She found a loaf of bread and began tearing off a chunk to eat with the cheese. "I'm so glad to be able to speak to one of the students at last. One of the reasons I'm here - I adore children. I love seeing them through the years as they grow up. And I delight in the ways they find to get in trouble."  
  
"I suppose us and the Marauders have been very entertaining?"  
  
"Absolutely! Those boys need to be knocked down a peg or dozen. Those two - Potter and Black - became popular their first day here and they wouldn't let anyone forget it. Egos and boys do not belong together."  
  
"I noticed." Martis poured herself some more milk. "What's the stories with Pettigrew and Lupin, then?"  
  
She rolled her amber eyes. "That stupid Pettigrew boy - has no mind or will of his own. Believes the world is for his amusement once he's attached himself to someone more charismatic."  
  
"So he really is an idiot."  
  
"Dully so. Poor Lupin is a sickly one. Nurse Pomfrey always looks after him at least once a month it seems. He hooked onto those three for some bizarre reason. I always thought he had more potential than being a hoodlum."  
  
Martis looked down into her milk, remembering what little she could of when they attacked her. "He was the one who told Black to stop ... "  
  
Mrs. Norris blinked. "What really did happen out there?"  
  
"I don't remember much. All I remember is snow and being silenced." She drank her milk. "On to other things. How can you stand Filch? He's a nasty codger."  
  
"He's a sweetie."  
  
"To you, granted."  
  
Mrs. Norris smiled in a very catlike way. "When you're in love, you act completely different around the one you love."  
  
Martis tried to imagine groundskeeper Argus Filch being a romantic type, and almost made milk squirt out of her nose from laughter. "Sorry - if I think of Filch smiling, I think of the dungeons and the torture chamber."  
  
"That's nice. He tries so hard to cultivate the proper impression, you know."  
  
--------------------------  
  
Sev closed the library door silently. It was past one in the morning and it was time to get back to bed.  
  
He cursed his degenerate father once again. He also added a few select insults toward Potions Master Professor Sartoris.  
  
He always felt sick to his stomach when he studied in the Restricted Section. He felt little bits of his soul torn away with every curse, every dark study. He figured when he arrived at Hogwarts that he would not have to continue these dark studies, but no. He should have remembered Professor Sejanus Sartoris from the Dark Wizard meetings his father would host in the parlor. The old Potions Master was 'keeping an eye' on him to make sure his studies continued. Gods, he felt sick.  
  
He cursed his mother for being a weak Pureblood brood mare. Yep, Ma was one of those clueless bloody Pureblood bints who got married off to some bloody Pureblood Master to make another bloody Pureblood baby to continue a bloody Pureblood family.  
  
Good one, Da, he thought. Marriage certificates say you 'wed' her May First and my birth certificate says I was born December Twenty-First of the same year. Two-hundred-thirty-five days, not even a full gestation. Just could not bloody wait, could you? Had to make sure I was born on the darkest night of the bloody year. How'd you do it, Da, start punching Ma up in her belly to make sure I felt it, too?  
  
How bloody brilliant. Old, old Wizard legends say that any couple partaking of carnal activities on Beltane - a fertility festival - were no doubt going to conceive. The day was reserved for normally barren wizards or witches to have children. Modern Wizards hardly bothered with the thought anymore, as the study of herbs and potions had advanced the field of fertility.  
  
But good old Confutatis Maledictis Snape decided to work the sympathetic magic of Beltane, pump his young bride full of fertility potions, and essentially rape her their wedding night.  
  
All because of his ink being too bitter, damaged, and cold to normally conceive an heir.  
  
Good one, Da. Bloody brilliant.  
  
Severus Snape hated his birthday with a passion. It reminded him too much of why he was born and how it happened. His father explained every excruciating detail to him when he was six, and it burned into his memory, molding his mind and being around the simple fact that his father wanted an apprentice to whom he could teach his twisted Dark Arts - not a son or an heir, but just an apprentice.  
  
Not only ruining his life from the start, but destroying his mother's innocence in the process.  
  
Oh, you bastard.  
  
He again wished he had Martis' parents for his own. At least they ignored her. Her father never beat the crap out of her or her mother never brave enough to stop it from happening. Of course not. They had the decency to allow her to be raised by their twelve other children, who at least taught her enough to function ...  
  
Who taught her to reach out to those in pain.  
  
Sev climbed down the stairs to the ground floor. A feeling of going to Martis fell over him yet again. He wanted to run up to her room in the middle of the night after the usual nightmares and crawl into her bed and just cry as she held him. It both infuriated and frustrated him that he needed her like that, and it was even more painful to not be able to do it.  
  
Such a mess, Snape. Such a mess.  
  
He was surprised to see Martis in the entry hall.  
  
"Spirals?" he whispered.  
  
"Snips?" She turned around and raised the lantern. "What are you doing up?"  
  
"I was going to ask you that."  
  
"Stomachache. How about you?"  
  
"Studying." He was relieved to see her - Martis in her spiral cloak and knee-length ash blonde hair and sunglasses pushed up on top of her head to see in the darkness. He was able to push the dark thoughts away when she was around. Her Light would not allow Darkness to exist.  
  
She sighed. "It's winter break and you're a Third-Year, you don't have to study for your OWLS yet."  
  
He opened his mouth and she draped part of her cloak around him, guiding him back to the staircase to the dungeons. "Come on," she said. "Let's put you back to bed before the entire school knows."  
  
They turned around to see Peeves staring them down, his nasty face pinched into a gruesome smirk.  
  
"Ho, ho, ho," he sang. "What's this? Two little snakes on the loose? No, excuse me, three." He tipped his hat to Medusa who appeared out of the neck of Martis' cloak. "Little Snivelly and Britty Vox - gallivanting without their socks - Lost in the halls is what they'll say - but we all know how children play." He rolled in the air in laughter at his own wit, giving Sev and Martis a chance to vanish down the staircase to the Slytherin common room.  
  
"I hate that entity," Sev muttered.  
  
"I'm quite sure you're not the only one, Snips," Martis commented. She made a Two-Finger Salute toward a stone wall (adding insult to the password clearance) and said, "Pureblood."  
  
The door to the Slytherin common room opened and both entered.  
  
She collapsed on one of the couches and threw her cloak off. "I'm surprised we bother with a password at all," she complained. "I'm pretty sure anyone with half a brain could figure out 'Pureblood'."  
  
Sev approached a table and put the lantern down. "I understand the Marauders tried to sneak in once - they got through 'pole-up-thine-arse' and 'insufferable-gits' before they were caught."  
  
She raspberried the idea. "See? If they collectively had half a brain - "  
  
The lamps of the common room lit up at once and Professor Gallo Penderdandis stepped out of the shadows.  
  
"Oh, freak."  
  
He gazed at the two students - Martis on the couch and wearing nothing more than her nightgown, and Sev at a table with a lantern in his hand - and decided to shelve his suspicions. "Miss Vox, please go to your room. I will have Miss Price speak to you in the morning. Mr. Snape, come with me."  
  
Both friends looked at each other with worry as Martis picked up her cloak and took the lantern up to the girls' dorms with her, while Sev followed Professor Penderdandis to his private rooms.  
  
Sev entered the private chambers of his House Master. He knew this room well, since he had been frequently brought here when he had nightmares his first year or got into trouble in the middle of the night. Penderdandis had this thing for Italian art, whether it be painting, sculpture, furniture, or knick-knacks. The room was gaudy, bright, but intensely interesting.  
  
"You were studying again, weren't you?"  
  
Sev nodded. "Yes."  
  
"Did you bring Miss Vox along?"  
  
"No. I'd never take her on my studies."  
  
Penderdandis leaned down, staring the boy eye to eye. "Just say the word, Severus. Tell me who it is."  
  
Sev dropped his eyes. All he had to say was 'Sartoris', and Penderdandis would tear into the old Potions Master faster than a starved African Nundu. Sev was the only student who knew of the animosity between Potions Master Sejanus Sartoris and Arithmancy Master Gallo Penderdandis - Penderdandis seemed to know Sartoris' connection to the Dark Arts. But - word against word - and Sartoris had more influence and power than he did; that seemed to be the only reason Penderdandis stayed his hand in reporting the Snape boy's excursions into the library. Sev naming Sartoris would justify a visit from the Ministry of Magic and a major investigation, which would lead to the illustrious Confutatis Maledictis Snape and his Dark Arts cronies. Something Sev knew Penderdandis had no idea existed.  
  
Yeah, and Sev would get a nice little beating, just enough to render him unconscious, by his father. Never kill him, that would be kind and brief.  
  
Not worth it.  
  
"Just me, sir."  
  
Penderdandis' nostrils flared. "All right then. I expect you and Miss Vox to continue to behave yourselves during winter break. Is that clear?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"Dismissed, Mr. Snape."  
  
Sev left the House Master's rooms and went back up to his own room, stretching out on his bed and staring at the rafters.  
  
Within two minutes, the door flew open and Martis' voice cried, "Night, Snips!" before shutting again.  
  
He rolled his head toward the closed door and smiled. Second time that evening, but understandable. "Night, Spirals."  
  
----------------------------  
  
Mail arrived by owl during breakfast the next morning.  
  
Sev got a package.  
  
"Open it, open it!" Martis said excitedly.  
  
Sev pulled the string off and ripped open the paper, finding a box with a note attached. He opened the note and read aloud: 'Dear Sevie, Happy Birthday, my baby. I hope you aren't too lonely at school this year. I love you very much and cannot wait to see you again. I felt it was about time to send you this, since you had grown the last time you came home. Take care of it, honey. Love, Mother."  
  
He opened the box and pulled out a school robe, clean and pressed and new, a brand new Slytherin patch sewn over the heart.  
  
Martis grinned. "Aww, that's so sweet - "  
  
He blushed. "Call me 'Sevie', and I will pull your hair."  
  
"Darn." She opened one letter, the seal proudly displaying the crest of the Malfoy family. "Dear Miss Vox, Put pink bows in my hair again and I will strange you with your snake. I finally got those spiral curls out, so would it please you to BLOODY KEEP AWAY FROM MY HAIR?! Quite sincerely, Lucius Baruch Evelyn Onassis Malfoy."  
  
Both Slytherins fell into hard laughter.  
  
"'Baruch' means 'doer of good'!" Martis howled.  
  
"Fine old masculine name is 'Evelyn'!" Sev added. "Didn't know they were still practicing that!"  
  
"Only in inbred aristocratic families in the Muggle World," she affirmed, tapering off her giggles. "The truly awful thing is that my great- grandmother is named Onassis, so he's probably a cousin."  
  
"Don't tell him," Sev warned. "Or he'll want to marry you."  
  
"Snips, you are a horrible person to say such a thing." She picked up another note, turning it over in her hand. "Hey, look at this, Snips. A graffiti-artist from around here."  
  
Sev nodded, folding his new robe away. "That's Potter's scrawl. Wonder what he's up to now?"  
  
"After yesterday's display, it's probably a marriage proposal." She opened the envelope and pulled the parchment out to read aloud: "Dear Miss Vox, Mr. Remus Lupin and I formally apologize to you and express our deepest regrets over the acts we had performed on you earlier this month. We have no say in what Mr. Sirius Black and Mr. Peter Pettigrew feel, but we are sorry for our actions. Our Apologies, Your Servants, etcetera, James Potter and Remus Lupin."  
  
She tossed the note on the table. "Well, that's a marriage proposal if I ever heard one."  
  
Sev's eyebrows shot up. "What?"  
  
"Kidding, Snips. Evidently their guilts are getting the best of them, so I probably should write them back and tell them to wait their turns to audition to be in my harem."  
  
Sev's mind stopped working. He began stuttering.  
  
"Oh, Snips, stop that!"  
  
"You are in a mood today!" he finally commented.  
  
"Guess so." She raised her spoon in the air and circled it over her head before directing it to land in the center of her oatmeal. "I have an idea, but it's refusing to come out."  
  
"What sort of idea?"  
  
She put her spoon down and looked around, making sure no one else was looking at them. Then she leaned close and said, "An Ultimate Prank."  
  
"On who?"  
  
"The Marauders, who else? Something that will make up for what they did."  
  
Sev curled his fingers into claws under the table. "Let me turn them into roaches and step on them."  
  
"You can't do that and you know it." She lifted the note up and his wand appeared, setting it on fire. She dropped the ashes into her oatmeal, then buried it in the sticky oats. "Great Mother, accept this offering and may the BS it contains fertilize your cold ground for a fruitful spring."  
  
Sev giggled.  
  
--------------------  
  
The staff and students of Hogwarts had their Christmas Eve Dinner, a prelude to the meal for the next day. The trees in the hall glowed and twinkled while the ghosts shifted in and out of the hall, softly singing Christmas carols.  
  
Eggnog was passed around at the head table, the teachers - in their gaily decorated hats and robes - were getting tipsy by the end of the meal. Most of the fifty students had left to go back to their common rooms, while a few (including Martis and Sev) stuck around to watch the adults being fools.  
  
"Last year," Sev was saying. "Penderdandis and Sartoris got into a tiff about something and they decided to prove who was the better dancer."  
  
Martis giggled. "Penderdandis? HA! What happened?"  
  
"Nurse Pomfrey and Professor Sprout volunteered to be dance partners for them and they got the tables cleared and danced." He grinned. "I didn't know those old codgers could dance, really."  
  
Martis leaned against his shoulder. "Sounds like fun. I wonder why we don't have a dance instructor here?"  
  
"Not really magic-oriented," he replied.  
  
They looked up to see Dumbledore popping a lemon drop in his mouth.  
  
"Hey, he opened it early," Martis observed. "Oh, well. If he smells lemons, then he has to have it."  
  
"How do you know he likes lemon drops?"  
  
"Guessed, actually. I noticed he took a lemon-flavored Cornish Pixy Stik, so I assumed he likes lemon sweets."  
  
"Spot on." He yawned. "After a meal like this, I'm sleepy."  
  
"It's the turkey," she stated with certainty. "Come on, let's go back to the common room and keep Miss Price company."  
  
They left just as Professor Sinistra held a mistletoe over Hagrid's head and kissed him not-quite-chastely.  
  
Hagrid responded in the same vein.  
  
-------------------------  
  
Miss Price had the place ready for them. A large fire was roaring in the fireplace and a couple of couches were arranged in front of it, their blankets and pillows on them. A pile of butter-soaked crumpets on a plate and a couple of mugs of hot chocolate steamed on a coffeetable.  
  
Miss Price herself was sitting in her armchair next to the fire, knitting contently.  
  
"Happy Christmas," she greeted them. "I was wondering when you two would get back here. Tonight's a special treat since there's so few of us - I'll let you both sleep out here in the common room."  
  
Martis jumped up and down and clapped, her hair flying. "Woo-hoo! Slumber party!"  
  
Sev scratched his head, then brushed his hair aside. "What's that?"  
  
"That's when we stay up all night and drive adults crazy by being loud and obnoxious - only in our pajamas."  
  
"Don't we usually do that? Only not at night and in our regular clothes?"  
  
"Sometimes. Get your pajamas on, Snips." She ran up the staircase to the girls' dorms.  
  
He nervously looked up at the House Mother and she smiled, nodding in approval.  
  
Sev ran up to his room and grabbed his bath supplies, quickly taking a shower before he dressed in his gray nightshirt and headed back down to the common room to see Miss Price braiding up Martis' hair into twin French braids.  
  
Spiral-print pajama set, her sunglasses still perched on her face. Nothing unusual. "Oh, Snips, you didn't comb your hair!"  
  
"I washed it at least," he muttered as he sat on one of the couches.  
  
Miss Price tied up the second braid and Martis moved to his couch with a comb in hand. "Sit still."  
  
"Don't mother me, Spirals."  
  
"I'm not mothering you," she informed him as she began to comb his tangled locks. "I'm just combing your hair."  
  
"I can do this myself."  
  
"Not very well." She combed the tangles out carefully, making a straight center part.  
  
"Thank you very much, Miss Vox."  
  
"Any time, Mr. Snape." She hummed as she finished combing. "There. You look so pretty!"  
  
He playfully snarled at her. "Why not just put bows on me to complete it?!"  
  
"Bows don't suit you." She smiled wickedly. "You need braids."  
  
He pulled his hair back from her. "No way! You are NOT braiding my hair!"  
  
She laughed and plopped down next to him. "Have you ever sang Christmas carols in Pig-Latin?"  
  
"Never heard of it."  
  
"All right, follow my lead ... "  
  
Miss Price wondered if this was such a good idea after all.  
  
-----------------------  
  
Exhausted on hot chocolate, toasted crumpets, wizard's chess, and singing, Sev and Martis fell dead asleep on their couches before the fire. Sev insisted on it; he kept staring into the fire, expecting to hear his father yelling at him. He wondered, as he fell asleep, if Martis had any idea about the dangers of Floo.  
  
The hours ticked on.  
  
Martis stirred in her sleep sometime in the early morning hours and one eye opened as she turned over, seeing Miss Price and Professor Penderdandis in a passionate embrace before the fire.  
  
She closed her eye and filed the image away to later investigate.  
  
----------------------  
  
Sev woke up, rubbing his face and stretching. He automatically stirred the fire and put another piece of wood on, wondering if his father was awake at this time. Now would have been a perfect time to scare the hell out of him.  
  
The fire blazed merrily again and he got up to take care of business, washing his face to wake up a little more. He wondered if it was possible to have chocolate hangovers.  
  
He came back into the room and sat on the couch, brushing his hair out of his face and looking around.  
  
Martis still asleep on her couch, curled up under her blanket with only her face poking out. Her sunglasses were on the table. He thought it was kind of cute how she snored - like a puffskein, now that he thought of it. She was so pretty with her messy ash blonde bangs falling to the side and her olive tone skin nearly pale due to the winter.  
  
Miss Price sleeping in her chair, her chin to her chest, her puffy gray hair looking exactly like an elderly puffskein. If he bothered to peek at her face, he would have seen a strangely satisfied smile on her lips.  
  
Under the common room's small tree were presents.  
  
He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again.  
  
No doubt about it, there were presents.  
  
He crawled off his couch and knelt next to Martis. "Spirals," he breathed, shaking her shoulder. "Wake up! Spirals, wake up!"  
  
She opened one eye carefully, focusing on him. She grinned. "Morning, Snips, how'd you get in my room?"  
  
"We're in the common room, remember?"  
  
"Oh, yeah." She sat up and stretched, yawning. "Warmest night ever. Wish I could sleep in front of the fireplace all the time."  
  
"Spirals, there's presents under the tree!"  
  
"Of course there are," she answered, pulling her sunglasses on. "If there weren't, I would have to have a very firm talk with Peeves." She paused. "Snips, did you see Penderdandis kissing Miss Price last night?"  
  
He stared at her, then giggled. "That's a weird thought. Must have been a dream."  
  
She shook her head. "I don't think it was. I'm kinda afraid to find out, though." She shrugged. "If you'll excuse me, I will return shortly and we can open presents."  
  
Martis left the room and Sev gazed at the tree again.  
  
He was afraid the image would vanish. He never got presents for Christmas. His father never believed in celebrating any type of holidays - cheap goit. His mother tried to at times, usually behind his father's back, but that was it. Very likely she had bought the robe with whatever was leftover from household expenses and sent it to him secretly.  
  
Sev crawled over to the tree and sat before it, gazing at the bright packages. Most were definitely from Martis judging by the wrapping print - her and her spiral fetish - while his present to her was hidden at the back of the tree.  
  
Should he stretch under there and retrieve it? Sure, and have his skinny legs sticking out from under the tree and looking quite ridiculous.  
  
He almost jumped out of his skin when Martis latched onto his back and draped her arms around him, kissing his cheek. "ARRGGHH!"  
  
She pulled away. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."  
  
He pressed his hand to his heart, feeling it beating fast. "Please, please don't do that!"  
  
She knotted her brows and lowered her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Please, Snips."  
  
He inhaled deeply and managed a weak smile. "I'm better. Just ... freaked out a bit."  
  
Martis sat next to him and reached for his hand, waiting for him to calm down. After a moment she asked, "Are you ready?"  
  
Sev nodded. "Yes."  
  
She smiled again and leaned over to drag presents out. "This and this and this are for you from me. This is for Miss Price, when she wakes up. And this is for you from Miss Price. This is for me from Miss Price. And this is for us from the Headmaster. And this is for Penderdandis from us - "  
  
"We got him something?"  
  
"A handkerchief to clean his glasses. Lessee ... " She ducked under the tree, her spiral-print pajama pants and slippered feet sticking out. "And one for me from you." She pulled back and sat down. "Come on, open up your presents from me!"  
  
Sev hesitantly touched the paper and ribbon, then untied the ribbon and tore the paper off to find a pair of uniform trousers. He looked up at her, his mouth open.  
  
Martis grinned. "I figured you wanted to cover your ankles during the winter."  
  
"Spirals ... " he said softly. "This is ... really incredible. Thank you."  
  
"There's more," she told him, handing him the other two. "Open up!"  
  
He did so - finding a shirt and sweater.  
  
"And something to cover your wrists, too. I remember my nephews around your age growing like weeds, so this will last a little while."  
  
Sev felt tears fill his eyes and he clutched her, hugging her tightly. A gift of clothes, unsolicited, given out of the goodness of her heart, not expecting anything back from him. Gods, he really did not deserve her. She deserved something more than a useless sot like him.  
  
She pulled back, using her pajama sleeve to wipe his eyes. "What are you crying for, Snips?"  
  
"You're too good to me. I'm a complete nutter and a baby and a mess. I don't know why you're so good to me." He leaned against her, squeezing her, his head resting against her small chest as he quietly cried.  
  
Martis drew her arms around him, rubbing his back. "Because you're my best friend ... and you're good to hang around with ... and you're fiercely loyal ... and you don't back down from a fight ... and you are brilliant ... and you seem so fragile but you're stronger than you know ... "  
  
He wept loudly now, waking up Miss Price. She looked over at the two and Martis gazed up at her and shook her head to not interrupt. Miss Price sat silently and watched, willing to offer help only when asked.  
  
"Severus, there's only two of us in this world. We have to stick together or we'll both go mad. We've both had miserable lives, but it's not going to get in the way of us being happy. I refuse to allow it." She stroked his hair. "Severus, I am going to drag you kicking and screaming into the Light, because I'm not going on without you." She picked up his face, smoothing hair out of his eyes and away from his mouth, pulling strands out of the tear tracks on his face. "Are you listening to me? It's Snips and Spirals against the world, remember? You're my best friend and nothing's going to change that - so get used to it, Snape!"  
  
He suddenly broke into a choking laugh, his hands reaching up to hold her face. "You're crazy, Spirals. It's never going to be that simple! You're insane ... " The laughter died, his face falling back to discomfort. "But I need you because of it. You're the one keeping me sane by being insane ... I don't know what I'm talking about."  
  
Martis stroked more hair out of his face. "I think I do; it's just your 'boy-brain' that's scrambled."  
  
He released her face and wiped his own with the sleeve of his gray nightshirt. "You're still too good to me."  
  
"Get used to it. Come on, let's open the rest of the loot."  
  
Miss Price leaned back in her chair, relaxing. Britomartis had the makings of being a fine House Mother someday.  
  
--------------------------  
  
The gift from Headmaster Dumbledore surprised both students the most.  
  
Both spread the paper before them on the table in the Great Hall during the Christmas Feast.  
  
"Who knew he was capable of this?" Sev murmured in amazement.  
  
Martis made signs of respect over the paper. "I suspected." She read:  
  
"My dear Miss Vox and Mr. Snape,  
  
"Since your arch-rivals have been incarcerated for the time being, I suspect you both need to practice your pranking as well as your magical abilities. I offer you a challenge to perform one of the suggested pranks below. I had longed to perform these myself but were either too inexperienced at the time or have obviously gained too much respect. Bugger. So, be aware that even though I suggested these, I will in no way admit to being the mastermind if you should get caught.  
  
"Signed, Albus Dumbledore.  
  
"PS -Thank you for the lemon drops."  
  
She glanced over the list. "And I don't blame him for not being able to do these - flooding the Great Hall with lime gelatin - "  
  
Sev read the next item: "Snow in the spring."  
  
"Enchanting the armor to perform the 'Chicken Dance'."  
  
"Getting rid of Peeves."  
  
"Make Professor Sinistra laugh."  
  
"Make Professor Penderdandis look ridiculous."  
  
Martis thought about it. "We could throw a boggart at him. Maybe Peony Danderfluff's; her fears are pretty silly."  
  
He read the last, "Change all the glass windows of the castle into butter."  
  
Martis picked Medusa up out of her lap and set the snake on the table. The snake stretched out, enjoying the warmth from the fireplaces and the tables. She gazed up at the enchanted snow falling from the ceiling, flickering her tongue out at the snow as if making fun of it.  
  
"That sounds like us."  
  
Sev looked up and chuckled. "Turning all the windows into butter? How do you propose we do that, Mighty Brain?"  
  
"I have to think on it." She looked around the Great Hall at all the tall windows. "Doing this room would be hard enough." Martis sat up. "How many windows are there in Hogwarts?"  
  
Sev rolled his eyes. "Forget it, Martis. We'd have a better chance of making Professor Sinistra laugh."  
  
"No. We have to turn the windows into butter. All the windows into sheets of butter."  
  
He smiled indulgently at her. "Real butter or that awful stuff I've heard about called margarine - the anti-butter?"  
  
"Real butter, of course!" she snorted. "The Headmaster would have insisted on it!"  
  
A figure slipped in next to Martis and hugged her. "Happy Christmas, baby sister."  
  
Martis hugged her older brother around the chest as Sev discreetly hid the prank suggestions. "Happy Christmas, Kyros."  
  
Kyros smiled, his strong, dark face an older, male version of Martis' surrounded by a mop of curly black hair. "Happy Christmas, Snape."  
  
"You, too," Sev returned.  
  
Kyros turned back to his sister. "We'll be having an informal party for the New Year in about a week, in the Great Hall. Professors Flitwick and Sprout thought it would be nice to get everyone together for a little party before the rest of the students come back."  
  
"I can just imagine," Martis sighed. "If you smuggled any Ambrosia in, Xenia will box your ears."  
  
He placed his hand on his chest. "Me? Smuggling in Ambrosia? Why, baby sister, you sound like you don't trust me!"  
  
"What's Ambrosia?" Sev asked.  
  
"I'll tell you when you're thirty," Martis retorted. "Kyros, I'm serious - these people would die from Ambrosia hangovers. Don't be thinking about using it on your 'study partner' Dagmar Campbell, either."  
  
Kyros' face fell. "You know, I really can't wait until you admit you're in love with your buddy there so I can laugh at you for being a silly romantic girl."  
  
Martis tackled her brother down into a headlock on the floor of the Great Hall, yelling, "Take that back, you big-mouthed stupid brother-person!"  
  
He laughed, slipping out of her grip as if he were covered with soap. "Yup. I was right. Phaedra's going to have to pay up." He glanced at Sev. "Be good to my sister, pal, or I'll string you up by your nose."  
  
Sev fingered his wand, but decided not to use it. Despite what just happened, he knew Martis loved her brother to death. It took her weeks to convince him that what they do as siblings (teasing and fighting each other) was all right. He was not sure what he had to do with what just happened, but evidently Martis seemed to be defending his honor.  
  
He was glad he did not have siblings. His father may not know what to do with so many children to slam into walls and terrorize.  
  
Kyros, grinning like an idiot, left the two alone and Martis got back up in her seat. "Stupid dork," she muttered. "If being a teenager involves having those types of hormones, forget it."  
  
"What types?" Sev asked.  
  
She gazed at him in surprise, then added, "I'll tell you when you're thirty."  
  
------------------------  
  
Sev and Martis spent a lot of time in the library the next few days, skimming through book after book of spells to figure out how to change the windows of Hogwarts into butter.  
  
Finally, they found it. A glass-making potion that could be converted.  
  
"Hm," Martis hummed. "It'll take a few days to do. Sure we can't find a spell for this?"  
  
"Just a potion," Sev confirmed. "I can mix this up without any problem, although we have to keep it in a safe place."  
  
"What about the potions lab?"  
  
He shook his head. "Sartoris is always in the dungeons. He'll find whatever I'm working on and confront me about it." He did not want to say that Sartoris would report it back to his father. "No, we need someplace safe where we can both work on it - "  
  
"Our Conversation Room," Martis whispered.  
  
He looked up at her. "Think we can sneak some equipment in?"  
  
"No prob."  
  
------------------------  
  
Sev spent most all of the next two days in the Conversation Room under the stained glass ceiling, measuring and mixing various items from plimpy fats to bat milk.  
  
Martis brought food up to him, silently watching the cauldron simmer and steam as he took care of himself. Once he learned he could not become an obsessive toadstool with her around, he found he welcomed the breaks.  
  
However, he refused to leave the potion alone for the night.  
  
"And how are you going to stay up here and Miss Price not knowing?" Martis asked.  
  
He sat back against a wall, nibbling on a turkey sandwich. "That's a bugger, isn't it? How to convince the adults that we're not up to something."  
  
"I'll stay up here with you - "  
  
He placed a hand on her shoulder. "No! If both of us are gone, that'll get them ultra-suspicious."  
  
"Why?" she asked as he pulled back and continued eating. "We're perfect angels - the souls of propriety and absolute - " She hit his back as he choked on his sandwich. "Absolute innocence ... Snips, are you done yet?"  
  
He coughed, laughing, "Almost!" He coughed again. "Martis, you're brilliant, why don't you come up with something to convince them that I'm in the dorms?"  
  
She nodded. "All right."  
  
--------------------------  
  
"Where's Mr. Snape?" Miss Price asked.  
  
"He retired early. He said he was exhausted."  
  
Miss Price looked over her glasses frames at the girl, whose own sunglasses covered her eyes, and the snake familiar circled around her shoulders protectively. "I'm not surprised, the way you two have been gallivanting around. Good night."  
  
"Good night."  
  
------------------------  
  
By mid-day, Martis brought up a tea kettle and a pair of mugs into the Conversation Room. She sniffed the air as she entered.  
  
"Smells like olive oil." She inhaled deeply again, then sniffed several times. "Great Mother, I miss that smell!"  
  
She put the kettle and mugs down and Sev pulled her into the room, picked her up, and swung her around, making her sunglasses fly off. "Success, Spirals! It worked!"  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
He set her down, grinned, and pointed up at the ceiling.  
  
Martis looked up and saw the stained glass ceiling replaced by sheets of butter.  
  
She giggled. She chortled. She laughed.  
  
Martis hugged Sev around the neck and kissed his cheek. "You're a bloody genius, Snips!" She looked up at the ceiling again, still hanging around his neck. "Will it turn back?"  
  
He looked up as well. "Nobody told me it had to turn back. You're so demanding, Spirals." He raised his wand and incanted, "Marginio."  
  
The butter melted down the walls and vanished into the floor, leaving the stained glass behind.  
  
She looked down, her nose nearly touching his. "Brilliant, Snips. Brilliant."  
  
They gazed into the other's eyes, pitch-black meeting moss-green, sharing a Moment.  
  
Twelve and fourteen ... First-Year and Third-Year ...  
  
Sev released her, blushing furiously, and crouched down to pour the contents of the cauldron into a jug. "Come on. We need to find a way to paint the windows with this."  
  
Martis crouched down as well, sweeping her hair back and picking up her sunglasses. "How much is there?"  
  
"Just enough for the windows in the Great Hall." He corked the jug. "Now, any ideas?"  
  
Martis smiled. "Yes. The way we used to paint buildings back home."  
  
--------------------------  
  
New Year's Eve. The fifty students still in the school entered the Great Hall with the staff of Hogwarts, ready to have a small New Year's party.  
  
Mr. Filch stood in the middle of the Great Hall, nostrils flaring and eyes twitching. He held a club in his hand. Mrs. Norris sat at his feet in her cat form.  
  
"Mr. Filch," Albus Dumbledore said. "What is the matter?"  
  
"I'm going to club them!" he wheezed. "Look at the windows! Look at the windows!"  
  
The students and teachers looked around. Every single window in the Great Hall was comprised of sheets of butter, the lights outside appearing like soft dots through the dairy product.  
  
The students giggled, as did a few of the younger Professors. Martis and Sev, among the gigglers, discreetly noticed Dumbledore smirking behind his beard and mustache.  
  
Kyros sniffed, looked around, then commented, "Smells like olive oil, just like back home."  
  
"YOU!" Filch yelled, raising the club and chasing after Kyros Vox. "You trouble makin' Vox's! I finally catch one of ya!"  
  
During the distraction, Sev twiddled his wand around and incanted, "Marginio."  
  
The butter came down with a loud 'squish', gurgling across the floor before vanishing.  
  
Martis turned to Sev. "Think we succeeded?"  
  
He nodded. "Mission accomplished, Spirals."  
  
She bowed her head and poked his shoulder. "Bother."  
  
He poked the side of her head. "Bother."  
  
"Bother."  
  
"Bother."  
  
She thunked him in the center of the forehead. "Bother - I win!"  
  
Medusa head-butted her, hissing.  
  
Sev smirked. "Medusa wins. Happy New Year, Spirals."  
  
Martis snorted. "Clever little snake." She hugged him. "Happy New Year, Snips."

  
  
-End- 


End file.
